Posts published by Alison Davis

When we arrived at Sarasota airport on Saturday morning, there was a message on my voice mail.

“Alison, it’s John,” our builder said. “I’m thinking that when you get to Sarasota, you should relax awhile. Maybe go to the Ringling Museum, and have lunch in the city. Take your time.” Since John is not big on sightseeing, we knew something was up.

We didn’t fly 1,500 miles to go to a circus museum, as enjoyable as that may be. In fact, we were really eager to see our finished house after months of work (and years of longing). So after a brief stop at Mattress Giant, we drove straight there.

Well, I’m happy to report that we’re thrilled.

Sure, there were 15 people swarming like ants throughout the house, hammering and hauling things to and fro, but here are just a few things we love: Read more…

Sheets and towels were among the contents of 11 boxes that were shipped to Florida.

When I was about seven months pregnant with my first child, I developed an obsession with baby underwear. Even though the baby’s room wasn’t finished, and I hadn’t yet acquired essentials like a car seat or a stroller, I was consumed with the idea that I had to have a sufficient inventory of onesies. Only after I dragged my friend to the store and made her help me load the cart with enough onesies for three babies did my anxiety ease.

At this point in the gestation of 92 North Shore Drive, my compulsion is linens: sheets, towels, blankets, pillows, etc. I know there are bigger issues to address, but most of those are out of my control. I can’t install kitchen cabinets or make sure the fence guy arrives on time or oversee the digging of large holes for royal palm trees.

But I can make sure we have a sufficient supply of linens to operate the household when we get to the house at the end of this month. Plus, guests are arriving on April 1: my father and stepmother and our friend Valerie. Granted, these are low-key guests—they’re coming to help—but I still want to make sure they have towels and sheets.

That isn’t really a crisis; as Paul would say, “I think there are one or two stores in Florida that sell sheets.”

Beach towels, queen sheets and shower curtains and being stored.

Yes, but: I’ve saved money by laying in linens over the past several months, buying on sale and using coupons; and, we’re going to be busy enough next week, buying absolutely everything for the kitchen plus all those necessary household items like trash cans. Now we don’t even have to go near the towel section.

On Saturday, I shipped 11 boxes to Florida —to Agnelli Construction, since John has graciously agreed to accept any shipments. Among the contents : mattress pad, sheets and quilts for a king-size bed, taupe towels for the main guest bathroom, and twin sheets, matelassé coverlets and bedskirts. (There was also an assortment of dishes, including pretty salad plates my mother gave me for Christmas, and two Tiffany champagne flutes we received as a party favor.)

Plus, my father and stepmother in Ormond Beach, Fla., are holding a carload of stuff, which they will bring when they arrive next week, including: beach towels, queen sheets, and shower curtains, plus a coffee pot, toaster and towel rack.

Readers have been requesting photos of the interior of the house; so have friends and family. And, even though I’m busy coordinating furniture deliveries and negotiating with suppliers that I don’t have time to think, the other day I started to yearn for a photo or two, as well.

So where are the photos? The problem is this: John Agnelli is a perfectionist.

He’s so particular that you would think he’s a photographer for a home-design magazine. John won’t take photos, or authorize the taking of pictures because the house is in a state of disarray. In other words, it’s not ready for its close-up.

“Well, it’s tough,” he told me on Monday when I asked for interior shots. “There’s paper all over the wood floors to protect them, so that doesn’t look good. And the staircase is still a work in progress, so that’s not very pretty. And we haven’t hung the kitchen cabinets, and the granite’s not in, and there’s a lot of clean-up to do.”

I told him I didn’t care about the mess. I just wanted to see photos. Read more…

A trundle bed from Charles P. Rogers will go in the smallest guest bedroom.

We have three guest bedrooms sized small, medium and large. When it was time to think about furnishing these rooms, the easiest one was the smallest. We knew we could only fit a twin bed, but we wanted the flexibility to accommodate two people, and to use the room as a den for reading or potentially watching TV.

So we looked at daybeds with trundles. Although Pottery Barn and other retailers have a number of choices, most of the beds pull out like a drawer, but do not pop up to bed height.

The driveway has been paved; Paul and Alison are still waiting for crushed shells to be spread across the sandy area between the driveway and the road.

Things are moving at a brisk pace on the outside of 92 North Shore Drive. Here’s an update:

The Driveway

When we decided not to pave all the way to the street, many readers were doubtful about how the driveway would look. In particular, most people were concerned that it would appear chopped off. I wasn’t worried, but I couldn’t picture it, either. Now that I’ve seen the photos, I’m happy with the way it turned out. The space between the driveway and the road, once we add the crushed shells, will blend quite well. Read more…

* Surfing dozens of Web sites, including eBay (there are currently 764 listings for sofas and love seats, but none is what I have in mind).

* Visiting a number of bricks-and-mortar furniture stores, including Macy’s, LaZBoy, Bassett, Ethan Allen, Raymour & Flanagan and Bloomingdale’s. I even dragged Paul all over Manatee and Sarasota counties last time we were in Florida, hoping to find the perfect local store. But most of what we saw didn’t fit our taste: Robb & Stucky, a small chain, was way too formal, while other retailers, such as Kane’s, seemed to specialize in dark furniture, the opposite of the casual, beach-cottage style we seek. Read more…

Minutes after my optimistic blog post on Friday, when I thought we really could make an April completion date, the phone rang. It was Peggy Edwards, the lighting consultant from LyteWorks in Bradenton.

She was not calling with good news.

It turns out a couple of the outside sconces we chose for the lanai and the front porches have large wall plates, which are too big to be installed next to the shutters.

“The second problem,” Peggy added, “is that, even if the lights fit, they’re not immediately available. They’re on back order.” She said some of the ceiling fans we wanted were on back order, too.

A vinyl trellis has been installed on the underside of the roof deck. (Photo: Amy Harris)

Yesterday afternoon Amy Harris, John’s new assistant, e-mailed me some new photos of the house. This morning I called John and got the story behind the pictures, as well as other reports on progress:

Interior painting is “90 percent done,” he said. There is still a bit of finishing work — tape removal and other odds and ends.

The wood floor is being installed in the great room and foyer. It will be finished by the end of the day on Tuesday. I am very pleased with the way the floor looks in the photo. It’s just as I imagined it would be — very cool and light.

The roof deck is complete. John has lined the underside with a vinyl trellis and added railing where the deck meets the roof. I think it helps make the deck look more anchored.

Railings have been installed on the back deck and on the back porch, which has been screened. This is very exciting to me, since the porch is my favorite part of the house. I can’t wait to sit there and drink mint juleps.

One of the things Paul and I did while we were in Florida a couple of weeks ago was select lighting fixtures — all of them — for the house.

And we did this in one afternoon at a store in Bradenton, Fla., called LyteWorks. John sends his clients there a lot.

Although Paul and I had not done any research ahead of time, we were confident in our ability to get it all done in one visit. After all, we’ve bought plenty of lighting fixtures in our time, though never 50 all at once! Read more…

I think I’ve been fairly patient through this process of construction, but last week I hit a wall.

After Paul and I went through the house, we were standing on the deck in the Florida sunshine and I thought, “Why aren’t we done yet?”

I asked John the next day when the house would be completed — which I define as the city issuing a certificate of occupancy, meaning we can move in — and he said, “April.” This is a month later than we had originally anticipated.

Though the underside of the roof deck is unfinished, we’ve worked out a solution.

While Paul and I are mostly really happy about the house, there are a couple of things that are not working.
The Roof Deck

Looking back at the house plans, we recently noticed that the front elevation was drawn as if the viewer was 15 feet off the ground, looking straight at the house. This point of view gives the impression that the roof is built up to the underside of the deck. The reality is that when looking at it from the ground, you can’t see the roof, but you can see the unfinished bottom of the roof deck. And because of this, the roof deck kind of looks like a spaceship alighted on our roof. Read more…

Greetings from Anna Maria Island, where the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing and the temperature is hovering in the high 70s. (To those Northeastern readers in the deep freeze, sorry to rub it in!)

Our weekend has been jam-packed with tasks, and it’s been great to be able to check them off of our to-do list, but before enumerating them I’d like to talk about the landscape plan.

We just met with Ray, our landscape designer, a couple of hours ago at the house. We walked around the property and discussed our options.

The first thing we asked about was, of course, money. It turns out that the plan Ray sent us has a $22,000 price tag. I have no point of reference on the cost of turning a patch of dirt into a lush garden, so although this sounded high, I didn’t go into sticker shock. That said, I still found it higher than I’d hoped. Read more…

My gardening experience is limited to what grows best in the Northeast; when it comes to what might grow well in a subtropical climate, I have no idea. That is why, in December, when were down in Anna Maria, we met with Ray Waldin, a landscape designer John recommended.

We talked to Ray in general terms, telling him how we liked palms especially, and how we wanted landscaping that would create a sense of serenity and lushness. We also (obviously) wanted plants that would do well in the warm and humid climate.

It’s been a couple of months, but this morning, finally, we received a potential design. I was really excited to see the plan when I opened the envelope, but as I flipped through its pages, my anticipation waned. I realized I had no idea of whether what I was looking at was good, bad or even ugly. Here are my questions:

How Much?

Granted, in December, we had not discussed budget, as we wanted to give Ray the opportunity to think about what we were asking him to do without any limits.

But, of course, the question of cost was the first thing that came to mind. At this point in the project, money is really tight. So if this plan is $1 million — yes, I exaggerate — it’s going to be much less attractive than if it’s $100 (again, I embellish). Read more…

What I should have done yesterday was make progress on all the decisions that still need to be made on our house.

As soon as I woke up, I should have made a list of all the things that have to be done.

But I didn’t. I taught my son Sam how to make a goat cheese omelet.

At the least, I should have looked at pool tiles. John was kind enough to direct us to a web site where there is lots of inspiration. But every time I visit the web site, there are so many choices that my head starts spinning.

Instead, I went to the grocery store, for chips and salsa and frozen appetizers.

When I got home, instead of trying to pick paint colors, I researched colleges with my son Nick, the high school senior, who is at work on the last applications.

As long as I was sitting at the computer, I should have gone on some web sites to order furniture. In a month, we’re going to have a completed house with no furniture. After all, I’ve seen a lot of things I like ­at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Room & Board ­and other web sites. I should just take the plunge and order something.

But I didn’t. Instead, I make guacamole, heated pigs in blankets and hot wings, put out raw vegetables with ranch dressing dip, and sat down with some hungry folks to watch a football game.

Why did I do everything yesterday except tackle my daunting list of house stuff? Maybe I’m suffering from Chronic Home Building Syndrome (CHBS). We broke ground six months ago, and I am worn out from the process. Read more…

About

They've found an idyllic tiny town in Florida, they've bought a piece of land and now Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis are setting out to build their dream house. How hard can it be, they wonder, even though they live 1,500 miles away, they've never built a home before and they don't know anything about architects, builders, local zoning laws or financing? On this blog for Great Homes, they recount their successes and failures and will chronicle their adventures to come.